Financial Inclusion Centre director and FCA board member Mick McAteer says: “The IA must have had a good reason to do this. It might have been to reduce costs or because members are leaving, so it could well be for internal organisation purposes.

“It is surprising as there is no question that regulation is going to be a priority for asset managers next year.”

gbi2 managing director Graham Bentley says the move could leave the IA without a voice to influence regulatory change both in the UK and Europe.

He adds: “You have to ask yourself whether the IA is going to engage with the regulator on behalf of fund groups or not.”

The decision follows a period of turmoil for the IA. High profile members Schroders, M&G and St James’s Place are set to quit the trade body at the end of this year, while Daniel Godfrey left his role as chief executive after a member revolt.

IA interim chief executive Guy Sears says the trade body’s regulatory activities will now be overseen by its “core” teams.

He says: “We believe that enabling our core teams, which cover the full range of investment areas, to oversee their own regulatory engagements will help us to deliver the highest quality of advocacy for our member firms, key stakeholders and the industry’s end-clients.”

Editor’s note: A version of this article appeared in the 10 December 2015 print edition of Money Marketing, with the headline “Disbanding regulatory unit ‘risks destroying IA’”. Money Marketing would like to apologise for the inaccuracy of this headline, and has amended the headline online accordingly.

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